Inspiring

Kind Dentist Gifts Veteran Named ‘Smiley’ His Smile Back With Free $60K Worth of Dental Implants

A veteran nicknamed “Smiley” can grin with confidence again after a generous dentist gifted him $60,000 worth of dental implants after he was moved by his story, Inside Edition reports.

Larry Kleiman had no real teeth left when he met Dr. Michael Tischler, the founder of the Teeth Tomorrow network.

Tischler was so moved by Smiley’s story that he decided to perform the surgery for free.

“He smiled, he had no teeth. His his name was Smiley, he was a fireman. He worked with dogs in Vietnam. And everything about him was just the kind of person that you wanna help,” Tischler told Inside Edition.

Kleiman now helps out at a local K-9 unit and is a volunteer firefighter.

Tischler said he called his wife and said “let’s help this guy.”

“I wasn’t really going to do it because it was a lot of money and on a fixed income, a retirement, there was no way feasible of me doing it,” Kleiman said. “Until Dr. Tischler came back two days later and said come on in.”

“He told me what we’re going to do is pay back. You did your time in the service, we’re going to pay you back.”

“They’re giving up their lives for our freedom,” Tischler said. “And to have a gentleman like this that had two tours in Vietnam, which was a horrible war… We felt good helping him. And today feels really good.”

“Nobody’s ever done that for me. Nobody’s every done that for me. I’ve always given to people,” Kleiman said. “I’m a firefighter, I was an EMT’er… I still fight fires. And I help people.”